Protect Your Computer and Phone from Illegal Police Searches
San Francisco - Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. Can police officers enter your home to search your laptop? Do you have to give law enforcement officials your encryption keys or passwords? If you are pulled...
Know Your Rights!
Your computer, your phone, and your other digital devices hold vast amounts of personal information about you and your family. This is sensitive data that's worth protecting from prying eyes - including those of the government.
The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects you from unreasonable government searches and...
The "Hot News" Doctrine After Fly On the Wall: Surviving, But On Life Support
A federal appellate court this week issued a fascinating decision on whether the much-maligned “hot news doctrine” – which confers a quasi-property right in facts -- will survive in the digital age. The answer? Yes, but barely, and not as an easy way to defend an outdated business model....
Felony Penalties Proposed for "Illegal Streaming": Senate Bill 978
Efforts to harness law enforcement resources in the service of copyright enforcement continue apace. Last Thursday, the so-called "illegal streaming” bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee (although that's still some way away from becoming law). The bill would increase criminal copyright penalties to allow jail time of...
Do-Over, Please: EFF Asks Court to Revisit Ruling That Disloyal Employees Violate Hacking Law
Today EFF filed a "friend of the court" brief (pdf) urging the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its troubling decision (pdf) that employees face jail time when they access work computers for purposes that violate company policy.
In United States v. Nosal, the former...
Australia Heads Down the Slippery Slope, Authorizes ISPs to Filter
Starting next month, the vast majority of Australia’s Internet users will find their access censored, following a decision by the country’s two largest providers--Telstra and Optus--as well as two smaller ISPs (itExtreme and Webshield), to voluntarily block more than 500 websites from view.
The decision from the two...
New Changes to FBI Guidelines Call into Question Proposal to Extend FBI Director’s Term
This month, the New York Times reported that the FBI has updated its internal domestic investigations guidelines to provide its agents with “significant new powers.” According to the Times, this update will provide agents with “more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to...
Apple’s “Censoring” Patent Just a Sign of Things to Come
Apple has been much maligned in the press recently for filing a patent application covering a camera system with infrared technology that could, among other things, allow the recording functionality to be shut off by a third party. For example, in its application, Apple shows how the technology...
Another Righthaven Copyright Troll Lawsuit Dismissed as Sham
Las Vegas - For the second time in a week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has won the dismissal of an infringement case filed by copyright troll Righthaven LLC.
EFF, along with the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and attorney Chad Bowers, represent Thomas DiBiase in...
Tennessee's Ban on Publishing Distressing Images: Let Us Count the Ways It's Unconstitutional
Summer is the season to crack down on the Internet — or so Tennessee seems to think.
First, the state made it a crime for people to share credentials for entertainment subscription services like Netflix and Rhapsody.
Now the governor has signed a law that says a...
